Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur was elected to the California State Assembly in November of 2022 to represent the 51st Assembly District. He was appointed in July 2023 by Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas to serve as the Democratic Caucus Chair of the California Assembly, one of the Speaker's key leadership positions.
A former Executive Director of Equality California, the nation's largest statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, Assemblymember Zbur worked to advance civil rights and social justice for the diverse communities to which LGBTQ+ people belong — communities of color, communities of faith, immigrants, women and people living with HIV.
He also fought to address climate change with urgency as an environmental lawyer and 20-year board member of the California League of Conservation Voters, now renamed California Environmental Voters and was its president for six years. Assemblymember Zbur fought for environmental justice and a focus on vulnerable communities that are hardest hit by pollution and to advance sustainable housing and green job programs.
Assemblymember Zbur grew up in a rural farming community in the Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico and ultimately became the first person in his rural community to attend an Ivy League university. After graduating from Yale College and Harvard Law School, Rick moved to Los Angeles in 1985.